The District of North Vancouver is going to fight another pot shop in the courts.
The municipality filed court documents Nov. 15 in B.C. Supreme Court, asking for an order that the owners of Medicinal Mary Jane Iprio Inc. operating at 1488 Pemberton Ave. stop selling marijuana and marijuana products, in contravention of local bylaws.
The court documents also ask for an order authorizing police to arrest anyone who contravenes a judge’s order in the case.
Six people – residents of Vancouver, New Westminster and Richmond who are directors of the company, are named in the lawsuit, along with Orient Holdings Ltd, which owns the property where the marijuana retail shop operates. Legal documents also name the Medicinal Mary-Jane Canada Society and three people who are directors of the society, including Aaron Sinnathamby of Burnaby who is also a director of Medicinal Mary Jane Iprio Inc.
Sinnathamby’s online profile lists him as the co-founder and chief operating officer of MMJ Canada, which also operates four other pot shops in the City of Vancouver, as well as two in Toronto, three in Hamilton and one in Nelson.
Sinnathamby also appears on a list of guests who attended a federal Liberal fundraising dinner at the Sheraton Wall Centre with Justin Trudeau on May 18 of this year.
According to court documents filed by the district, bylaw officers Armaan Chanana and Erin Bishop visited the pot shop, identified on signs as a “boutique dispensary” several times this fall, beginning in September.
Glass display cases inside the store contained dried marijuana leaf and bud, cannabis capsules, edibles including marijuana-infused olive oil and brownies packaged as being “Baked with Mary Jane,” as well as “Dope Soap” and THC-laced dog treats, according to affidavits.
On Sept. 14, bylaw officers spoke to three employees, who refused to identify themselves, but gave municipal staffers the email address for a Sean Baird at “head office.” Baird sent a reply Sept. 15 saying corporate bosses were consulting lawyers.
Bylaw officers also spoke with Orient Holdings’ Henry Lum, who said the storefront was leased to a computer repair company, which had sublet to the marijuana store, according to court documents. Bylaw officers told Lum he was responsible for activities on his property, according to the affidavits.
A man who identified himself as “Tanny,” the manager working at the store this week, told the North Shore News he wasn’t sure what the pot shop’s bosses were planning to do about the district lawsuit. He said the store only sells to members, who have to have a doctor’s note.
Representatives from MMJ replied to an email from the North Shore News, but did not respond to questions by deadline.
It isn’t the first time the district has gone after a pot shop in the courts.
After a six-month legal process, the district forced the closure in May of Green Tea Dispensary Society, which had opened at 1370 Marine Dr.
Currently, marijuana dispensaries are illegal throughout North Vancouver. Despite that, five shops operate in the City of North Vancouver, where council has opted not to pursue them in the courts.
The federal government has set July 2018 as the date for legalizing recreational marijuana. But many of the details around that – including how and where cannabis can be sold, rules around public consumption of pot, and road safety laws – will be up to the province to regulate and have yet to be worked out.
Both the federal and provincial governments are currently conducting consultations on those issues.
